FPL Ranks for Game Week 30

I get a lot of questions about how I rank defenders, often when Togga managers, with the benefit of hindsight, are @ raging when wingbacks I’ve ranked highly are failing to produce. So here’s a quick summary of my rationale: within the Top 20 defenders that I rank each week, wingbacks are prominently featured unless there’s a clearly terrible matchup where 2 points for a conceded goal is too punitive. From #20 to #40, I tend to be much harsher with fullbacks simply because of the scarcity of reliably good ones. Togga’s scoring format really does privilege center halves and because of the aforementioned 2 points for conceded goals, a conservative approach is generally wise. E.g. 8 aerials = 1 assist. Shane Duffy has 144 aerials won, the equivalent of *gasp* 18 assists. Look no further to understand how he’s managed to average 9.16 PPM. Aerials won represent more than half of Duffy’s scoring output.

Take the above into consideration when navigating your team selections and looking at ranks.

Let’s get started.

Postscript for GW29: Jesse Lingard wasn’t involved whatsoever in Manchester United’s 3 goal comeback and he’ll face a far sterner test in GW30 when Liverpool come to town so I’ll pipe down with any further enthusiasm for the moment. Sean Dyche had his preferred back four for the first time in nearly two months and it paid dividends in the form of a 2-1 victory over Everton. It was Matthew Lowton’s 23.75 points that turned the fortunes of Togga managers and I’ve ranked the Clarets respectably again this week vs. West Ham.

Studs: Two years ago, Spurs were quietly fielding offers for Heung-Min Son, which now seems unthinkable. The talismanic winger has supplanted Abdoulaye Doucoure and moved into the Top 10 midfielders on the season with 293.5 points, just half a point behind teammate Dele Alli and Willian, each on 294. I suspect before the GW38, Son will threaten Xherdan Shaqiri and Leroy Sane for a Top 5 spot. Truly incredible given his ADP at the start of the campaign.

Duds: In all of 2018 thus far, Richarlison has averaged 3.8 points per outing, 30.5 points across 8 fixtures. In those 8 fixtures, he’s had zero goals, zero assists, and ONE created chance. That’s appallingly bad and I don’t see things getting better, not even against Arsenalol. When Richarlison tweeted an angry emoticon to express his unhappiness about the club’s decision to sack Marco Silva, he followed up with scoring of 3, 2.5, 4, 1.5, and 1.5 – that’s 12.5 points in 5 matches. Not worthy of a rank, simple as. Maybe if I ranked 30 forwards? Nah.

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Forwards

1

David De Gea

Marcos Alonso

Kevin De Bruyne

Sergio Aguero

2

Lukasz Fabianski

Ben Davies

Eden Hazard

Harry Kane

3

Jonas Lossl

Kyle Walker

Christian Eriksen

Mohamed Salah

4

Ederson

Cesar Azpilicueta

David Silva

Roberto Firmino

5

Hugo Lloris

Serge Aurier

Heung-Min Son

Romelu Lukaku

6

Thibaut Courtois

Nicolas Otamendi

Willian

Alvaro Morata

7

Jack Butland

Stephen Ward

Leroy Sane

Alexis Sanchez

8

Mat Ryan

Aaron Cresswell

Riyad Mahrez

Jamie Vardy

9

Nick Pope

Seamus Coleman

Sadio Mane

P.E. Aubameyang

10

Alex McCarthy

Victor Moses

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Jordan Ayew

11

Adrian

Jan Vertonghen

Paul Pogba

Marko Arnautovic

12

Petr Cech

Harry Maguire

J. Berg Gudmundsson

Cenk Tosun

13

Jordan Pickford

Matthew Lowton

Mesut Ozil

Steve Mounie

14

Martin Dubravka

Davinson Sanchez

Pascal Gross

Glenn Murray

15

Kasper Schmeichel

Christopher Schindler

Dele Alli

Ashley Barnes

16

Loris Karius

Laurent Koscielny

Manuel Lanzini

Chicharito

17

Asmir Begovic

Antonio Valencia

Bernardo Silva

Dwight Gayle

18

Ben Foster

Andrew Robertson

Gylfi Sigurdsson

Guido Carrillo

19

Orestis Karnezis

Shane Duffy

James Ward-Prowse

Troy Deeney

20

Wayne Hennessey

Ben Mee

Matt Ritchie

Gabriel Jesus

21

Craig Dawson

Nathan Redmond

Jose Izquierdo

22

Shkodran Mustafi

Marc Albrighton

Joshua King

23

Cedric Soares

Matty Phillips

Christian Benteke

24

Eric Bailly

Michail Antonio

Salomon Rondon

25

Mike Van der Hoorn

Jesse Lingard

Callum Wilson

26

James Tarkowski

Oxlade-Chamberlain

27

Michael Keane

Cesc Fabregas

28

Jamaal Lascelles

Xherdan Shaqiri

29

Antonio Rudiger

Ki Sung-yueng

30

Chris Smalling

Ilkay Gundoggan

31

Alfie Mawson

Junior Stanislas

32

Cuco Martina

Emre Can

33

Trent Alexander-Arnold

Wilfried Ndidi

34

Kyle Naughton

Abdoulaye Doucoure

35

Ahmed Hegazi

Andros Townsend

36

Ryan Bertrand

Choupo-Moting

37

Virgil Van Dijk

Mohamed Diame

38

Pablo Zabaleta

Rajiv van La Parra

39

Simon Francis

Luka Milivojević

40

Wes Hoedt

Nemanja Matic

This season, our weekly fantasy Premier League ranks are a one-man affair, with Benji Wade taking over the mantle. You can find him on Twitter: Follow @benjiwade.